Those are my eye-catching takeaways from my first trip to the Tropical Plant Industry Exposition in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Produced by the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscapers Association, the annual trade show exhibits all the latest and greatest of tropicals, or what Hoosiers call houseplants.

In a big way, houseplants have escaped their indoor environment to serve as ornamental beauties in trendy summer gardens. And, they’ve leapt from pots into glass bubbles, whimsical vessels or architectural structures. They’re almost super plants.

The trend is plants that can survive for six weeks with zero care, said exhibitor Bisser Georgiev, founder of LiveTrends Designs (livetrendsdesign.com). The goal is to position plants as unique living décor.

His company has placed a tiny air plant (Tillandsia) in a small vase, strung with a leather cord to make a necklace, was popular with trade show visitors. So were the dolls with tillandsia hair, also a keeper, and that’s exactly what LiveTrends wants – consumers to collect the décor for their homes.

Almost all exhibitors featured tiny plants in tiny pots. Sometimes they were clustered together in a saucer or bowl, and sometimes they were placed in a row along a shelf or something similar.

Braided leaves of Sansevieria cylindrica provide a unique, architectural feature to a centerpiece arrangement or end table. The leaves are cut from the plant, treated with a fungicide and braided into a tight, upright, yet broad pattern and placed in a pot. The living sculpture, exhibited by Greenex.com, lasts several weeks.

Gardeners longing for something other than impatiens to color their shady landscape can take heart by planting several blooming bromeliads in a container. The colors should last the summer and with it comes the sturdy bromeliad texture.

Orchids, which bloom anywhere from four weeks to three months, depending on the variety, also can be clustered in large bowls for a stunning display in shadier areas. Or line a shelf or shady window box with them.

For outdoor living spaces, consider building a backless box to affix to a wall. Set plants in pretty pots in the box to color up the space.

To wrap up, use tropicals (aka houseplants) as you might premium annuals or tender perennials for summer fare. Tropicals add texture, shades of green, silver, red and other colors, and when they’ve completed their summer tour, they can be brought indoors for even more enjoyment. Or, thank them for their seasonal show and toss the plants in the compost pile.